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When I was selling my beginner safe huge and educated to 3rd Hannoverian schoolmaster a year and a half ago, I paid my boss (who is a pro) to come out and ride him for the video. I just sat there for 30 minutes, filmed him. Then went home and edited it down to just under 10 minutes. Horse had been out of work completely for a year, and hadn't worked at 3rd for 4 years so it was VERY rough. basically we were selling him for what he was and very cheap. The video showed him having a go at some harder work which he was totally out of shape to try, but the people who ended up buying could see past the roughness of it and actually could see he was a decent horse underneath it all. He's now sold out of state to the bottom of the country to a para rider who flew up to view him based on the video cause I assure you he was bloody ugly to look at standing in the paddock or in a picture XD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7_wjGHwCFE here is his video. It really didn't take that much effort.

You are not out of line in your request; however life happens. Weather, timing, and not wanting to shoot a video on a cold, windy day when goblins are lurking under everything is also justifiable, IMHO. Videos should represent the horse, but representing the horse when they're having a bad day, or need a body clip before being filmed, is understandable.

What Gumtree said was right on. I sell horses and I think it is perfectly reasonable to have a current video of the horse available doing whatever the horses can currently do. I happen to sell younger, greener horses so the change in performace from month to month can be significant. I shoot video all the time. I can assure everyone that I am not a fab camera person, but I can video enough for the prospective buyer to have an fair expection of what the horse is like.

It makes me nuts when seller provides a video that is years old as an accurate representation of the horse today. In one case, I remember a video from an unrecognized HT at starter novice where the horse's score (mid 70's) from 6 years previous was sent.

If you want to sell without videos, it can be done but it's going to take longer.

You are not out of line in your request; however life happens. Weather, timing, and not wanting to shoot a video on a cold, windy day when goblins are lurking under everything is also justifiable, IMHO. Videos should represent the horse, but representing the horse when they're having a bad day, or need a body clip before being filmed, is understandable.

This may be true, however if someone is serious about selling a horse they should have the horse prepped and ready to show to prospective buyers. Would n't you clean your car before slapping a for sale sign on it ?

I am a seller and a buyer it's how we make our living. I think your rant is fully justified. My motto is and has been; “No one needs a horse”. I repeat this to my suppliers, vets, farriers, and all the other “service providers” who make a living off of those of us who have huge overhead by owning a farm and work 7 days a week pretty much 365 days a year trying to make the experience of owning a horse fun and worth the money.
When buying I have run into the same nonsense. I don’t get what sellers don’t understand about the above. They are not doing anyone any favors. That being said I don’t totally disagree with Judybigredpony’s post # 7. I have found over the years that a bad or moderate picture let alone video ends the conversation before it even gets going. But I don’t think it is that difficult these days nor expensive to put a good video and pictures together on a website. U Tube makes it pretty darn easy. Sure it takes time, sometimes a lot. Sure there are a lot of tire kickers but IMO that’s just the cost of doing business. Here’s an example of one of our videos feel free to critique.http://gumtreestables.com/sportthoroughbred4sale.html
There is one thing that drives me nuts as a seller and that is when a buyer calls and asks if we will take less having never even looked at the horse let alone get on it’s back. I don’t like playing games, can’t stand haggling. I feel and have been told many times that we price our horses very fairly. I also tell people that the horse may or may not be the one they are looking for but they will not be wasting their time making the trip. If there are any “holes” we are upfront. But buyers need to be realistic also. About their skills, riding abilities, and what kind of horse X amount of dollars will buy.
Working with an agent cost additional money but we have the ways and means to put a very good “short list” together. We have developed relationships that have taken years and our call is always returned. We can find the “goods” because sellers know we have “vetted” our clients and we are not just kicking tires. I don’t work without a reasonable nonrefundable retainer depending on the client.
I don’t like wasting my time and I certainly don’t like wasting a potential buyer’s or client‘s.

I looked at your videos. The only comment I would have is that showing him jumping the same log 5 or 6 times was pretty boring! Otherwise he looks like a nice, useful horse and fairly priced. However, if I were you (and he's not sold yet) I would do what I could to get a better conformation shot. He looks to be like my horse, non-photogenic, so that he looks much more attractive in the videos (and hopefully in person!) than in the still shot. I was horse-shopping 2 years ago for just this type of horse, and I might have passed after seeing the confo shot (shallow I know!).

You are not out of line in your request; however life happens. Weather, timing, and not wanting to shoot a video on a cold, windy day when goblins are lurking under everything is also justifiable, IMHO. Videos should represent the horse, but representing the horse when they're having a bad day, or need a body clip before being filmed, is understandable.

Honestly, the number of videos I have seen of a quality sufficient to tell whether the horse has been clipped is...maybe 5% ...

I know more than one pro who isn't crazy about providing video, for reasons that judybigred stated. That's ok -- I would and have gone to see horses w/o video from pros I know and respect. But I wouldn't travel far to see a horse w/o video.

Any given day might be windy or dark or rushed, but I don't buy that it is simply not possible to make a 5 minute video if you are selling a 10,000$+ horse. I am not talking about making a video on request, but simply having one to show as part of the sale process...

I will not drive to see any horse without a video unless it's a free horse and even at that I am not really that interested without a picture or a video. Just too many experiences arriving to see horses that aren't well trained, aren't sound or have something else that wasn't disclosed. I don't mind seeing a horse that is accurately represented that just isn't a good match but without a video/picture, it is hard to accurately represent a horse.

I sell a ton of horses both for CANTER MA and for myself and it does take a lot of work to chronicle the progression in their training via pictures and video but that is what makes people feel comfortable buying. I take pics/video of them at home, trail riding, xc schooling, clinics, lessons and shows. If anything there is too much information.

Even cheap phones, videos and cameras can give me enough information to go on. It is also relatively cheap to pay somebody to come and do it for you. We have offered our services to many people locally where we come out and do pictures/video and write up the ads for them. We ask them to dress up, have the horse very clean and then we set up a little shoot.

It often just takes one good picture to get me interested in seeing a horse. I can even live with a 30 sec free video of the horse in the paddock w/t/c. I mainly shop for green horses so I am just looking for raw talent.

I have a pony currently advertised and I just always pay for an add with three to four videos on it along with at least ten pictures if you can put that many. Videos show footage from shows if they have shown and also schooling with different riders. What irritates me is when buyers email or call and have not bothered to watch the videos or talk to and show the vids to their trainer.

So I am the tech challenged seller who has stepped up, got a new camera, had someone take the video, finally figured out imovie, went to the library to upload (I'm on dial-up) GOT THE G-DAMN VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE AND . . .

Actually I can help you on this. Your xc video needs to be condensed to only a few seconds of tape before the horse does something. Leave out the opening look for the horse, see the horse, watch the horse canter up a hill. It's useless in this regard because you can see she does well enough cantering to and from the fences.

Fyi and I don't know why I know this, horns and the sounds of horns are prone to shutting all but the most devout jazz fans down. I saw a study on musical instruments used in videos and their psychological effects. (I was a broadcasting major in college.. so it was relevant to our classes)

Also if you mute the sound on your videos you have a better chance of getting the buyers in. Why? That's not well known, but outside of horses with a known roaring issue, the sounds of nature and horse breathing are just boring. So avoid them. Conversely DO NOT ADD your favorite kind of music to a sales video. Why? What if you love Britney Spears and a person of a completely different generation, one that doesn't prefer Britney was interested but can't stand the music and is too lazy to hit mute on their computer. Awful but possible.

One more thing for event horse sellers... your stadium rounds are now becoming something I hear people saying they want to see on vids. Why? Because very quickly this is becoming a weak phase for a portion of the country. So the horse that can hold its score all the way through is becoming more valuable. So dig up the stadium or jumper show footage and show it off!!

So I am the tech challenged seller who has stepped up, got a new camera, had someone take the video, finally figured out imovie, went to the library to upload (I'm on dial-up) GOT THE G-DAMN VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE AND . . .

You are not out of line in your request; however life happens. Weather, timing, and not wanting to shoot a video on a cold, windy day when goblins are lurking under everything is also justifiable, IMHO. Videos should represent the horse, but representing the horse when they're having a bad day, or need a body clip before being filmed, is understandable.

OK...but if you are trying to sell your horse and it's winter time, buyers are (possibly) going to come out and deal with cold, boogers, etc and the horse will need to be clipped and cleaned up anyways. Right??

Originally Posted by volvo_240

This may be true, however if someone is serious about selling a horse they should have the horse prepped and ready to show to prospective buyers. Would n't you clean your car before slapping a for sale sign on it ?

Exactly. If you are selling a horse, you clean it up and take good pictures representing the horse. If you are serious, you take the same quality video. I did this video for a pony I was selling for under $1000 obo, and gave away FREE to the right situation. She got cleaned up, I wore appropriate clothing, there are no barefoot children, loose dogs, or chubacabras in the background, and the video shows all three gaits. My friend videoing knows nada about horses but is a good photographer and has a basic understanding of keep-the-subject-in-the-frame. The camera at the time had no way to change the zoom while in video mode, so I just had her stand in the middle of the arena, set the camera's zoom while we were on the long side closest to her (so that it wouldn't be cutting off the horse's legs as we passed by) and go from there.

Granted the weather was nice, but you can clearly see this is a nice, fat, lazy pony who does not like to canter.

I would do no less for any other horse for sale, from free to five figures.

COTH's official mini-donk enabler

"I am all for reaching out, but in some situations it needs to be done with a rolled up news paper." Alagirl

I think the videos themselves are fine and your horse is lovely, but the captions say she eventing at Training level and I don't think any of the jumps in the video are at that level - they look significantly lower. If I were looking for a training level horse at the price you are asking, I would be concerned that none of the jumps appear to be at that level. I would also suggest editing the video to a tad shorter, but the length wouldn't put me off coming to see her if she was what I was looking for.

Originally Posted by LookmaNohands

So I am the tech challenged seller who has stepped up, got a new camera, had someone take the video, finally figured out imovie, went to the library to upload (I'm on dial-up) GOT THE G-DAMN VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE AND . . .

I am a Seller..and I hate being asked for video...it is not always a true representation of the horse, depending on the device and then speed of computer potential customer loads onto...video's can break a sale if not just perfect....if you like what you see in the photo GO LOOKN IN PERSON!!!!!!!!!!! I can spend all day making video's editing uploading and sending off to people who are tire kickers don't have the full asking price or who have no intentions of actually buying....And cell phone video is the absolute worst!!!

I have to say I mostly agree. I appreciate seeing a minute or two of video showing quality of gaits.

But most/much sale video is not worth much. How the horse goes for the rider in the video may not have anything to do with how it is going to go when you sit on it. I think there are too many videos out there because buyers want them, but a lot of them make the horse's look terrible.

As for steady shots without a tripod, I recommend the human tripod. Spread your feet about shoulder width, put your arms down at your sides, lock your elbows to your sides, and then raise your forearms. Press the two sides of the camera between your palms. If you need to pan left or right, turn your whole body. Makes for a pretty steady shot even without a tripod.

Well....I'm one who could care less about a video. I can't think of any of my horses....ever....that I wouldn't have seen first without a video. Can only think of one that I was sent a video...but I didn't ask for it and would have gone to see him without it.

I buy mostly from people I know. The last two OTTBs I have bought I did see a picture first. I generally buy from people I know and go to places that I know they have a few for me to look at.

And from a selling perspective....I can't think of a single horse that I've sold over the years that I sent a video on. Most buyers either knew me, or knew my trainer or had seen the horse at a competition.

I'm lucky given where I live and who I know. I understand why people want them....I just don't put much weight in them. I put a lot of weight in people I know/trust telling me the horse will be something I like

Last edited by bornfreenowexpensive; Nov. 10, 2012 at 06:36 PM.

** The difference between genius and stupidity is genius has its limits. -- Albert Einstein **

i sell a lot of horses as well and purchase them for clients. i also like to see a short video. i try to get videos of the horses i have for sale, but sometimes it's a challenge. i also work full time and buy the time i get home during the week, it is dark. so weekends are the only times.on the other side of the coin, i have sent videos out this last month to at least 10 people asking for videos of horses i have for sale. what gets me is you don'thear a word back. now i'm not upset if my horse is not what you are looking for, but really, can't you just say that.instead of just not replying back at all. i think that is very rude.and people want a 3 ft horse jumping around with an auto change for under 10k, good luck.

So I am the tech challenged seller who has stepped up, got a new camera, had someone take the video, finally figured out imovie, went to the library to upload (I'm on dial-up) GOT THE G-DAMN VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE AND . . .

My first thought was that she looks more like a BN horse. I stopped watching after a few Xcode jumps as her rider was really in her face after the jumps which to me says she is trying to take off. The other thing is she looked very green Xc almost as if that was her first school. She looks more like a prospect. I would get video of her jumping around a Training level Xc course showing that she is steady etc.

If the horse is an hour's drive or so from me, sure I'll go see it based on a still photo and a description. Four hours? Nope, I want a video. I'm not asking for a full scale production, I just want to see it do a quick trot and canter, *maybe* pop a fence if that's what's advertised. I don't care if it's ridden, lunged, or just bopping loose in the ring. A 5 min video is plenty, 2 would do if it's efficient use of those 2 min.

Just please - NO SLO MO! I hate slow motion, I want to see real time work please